Pray Ho'tell

Come on an inspiring and surreal journey into Sydney suburbia, through the poetry of Benjamin Frater. This is not your usual poetry yarn. Ben's story begins in Campbelltown on Sydney's suburban fringe. He died in 2007 at just 28 years of age.

Listening to live performances of Frater’s poetry inspired producer Lisa Nicol to delve deeper. She became fascinated by this young poet from Campbelltown who called himself, 'The Catholic Yak'. Could such a distinctive and original artist die a complete unknown?

Strap yourself in and travel through the hallucinations, imagination and short life of Benjamin Frater. In this exploration of his writings, Ben's family and friends tell the story of this larger than life young man and his visionary poetics.

Comments (7)

Katharine Daly :

maisy dullas curtin :

20 Jan 2013 11:11:20am

"...visionary poetic"? Of course. Just as 'visionary' as verbal diarrhoea can be; and as 'poetic'as any contemporary egocentric.

The sing-song quality of his voice were a direct copy from New Zealand's self-appointed narcissist, Sam Hunt (attempting to channel Dylan Thomas); and his diatribes/rants and raves trod the well-known path of thousands of catholic bigots.

What I find interesting is the degree to which Mr Frater's alleged friends abandoned him to his isolating verbosity and his over-bearing self love - his narcissism. Ben's articulateness and use of an extensive vocabulary were but two means by which he expressed his Dorian Grey approach to relationships and to nature.

This abandonment is continued by Lisa Nichol and Kirsti Melville who deserve full credit for treating Ben's panic, terror and plain confusion about living as 'poetic'.

kj :

26 Jan 2013 11:01:21am

Pity your narrow view of the world and its creative genius is so buried. There are those of us in our 70's who have an understanding and appreciation of genius such as this young man had....not to mention the fact that he touched so many other people's lives.Would anyone even want to do a programme on you???? I think not.

R.L.K. :

29 Jan 2013 7:47:15pm

Your flatlining judgement and bleak dismissal of this young man's life & life's work (hardly separable), cruelly negates not only his technical wit and artistic flair (whether you find it likeable, or not, or arrogant, or not) - but also ignores the fact that he was constantly observing, re-living, commenting on & trying to deal with the causes of his suffering/fragmentation.Not liking someone does not give you the right to cut them down. A society which does this creates bigots and schizophrenics. Ben's schizophrenia did not make him poetic- his poetry did not make him schizophrenic. They are separate yet interactive aspects of an intelligent, hypersensitive, driven personality.I am sorry he suffered so.I am glad he left a legacy.I dont think this documentary poeticised his life, but rather emphasised the fact that he himself found poetry in everything, good, bad, ugly.Very Bukowski, to my mind.Next step, we start recognising people while they are still alive!

dale :

daisy dullas curin :

22 Jan 2013 6:14:29am

Mr Frater, the savant, the genius!!!!Really.

A better understanding of schizophrenia by ordinary people will provide ordinary understandings of the painful, confusing and isolating disconnections from reality Mr Frater experienced almost daily. Rather than the hyperbolic and bizarre understandings offered by some listeners.

It is entirely possible to applaud, love and admire Ben Frater (and to dislike and reject) without the sort of crazy-making hyperbole some listeners provide.

Ben Frater was an ordinary person - part of his illness is that he was unable to recognise his ordinary, mundane, taken-for-granted, everyday life.

Some mental illness today is still extremely difficult to live as an experience, as it ever was. Schizophrenia hides such normality in a thorough manner: it prevents normality being experienced. This is painful!

Re-naming people with experiences of schizophrenia as 'savant', as 'genius' is a gross indecency: it is like worshipping them as they drown!

Clive B. :

20 Jan 2013 1:04:55pm

Fine impressionistic portrait of a verbal artist, RN team. So much talent & originality, so short a life - the pathos of such a destiny has illustrious precedents. A true poet who made his mark. "Atque in perpetuum, frater, ave atque vale."